SAN FRANCISCO – Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband remembers Monday was beaten by a hammer-wielding assailant and woke up in a pool of his own blood.
Paul Pelosi, 83, took the stand to testify against the man accused of aggressor him with a hammer in a politically motivated attack on October 28, 2022.
“The door opened and a very big man came in with a hammer in one hand and some ties in the other and he said, ‘Where’s Nancy?’ because I think that woke me up,” Pelosi testified. “I’m asleep and he burst in the door and that woke me up.”
The husband of the former president of the House of Representatives suffered a it’s brokenmyd skull in the attack.
The suspect, David DePapeHe pleaded not guilty to attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on an immediate family member of a federal official.
Pelosi testified that she didn’t set her home alarm before going to bed, so there was no warning sound when DePape broke the glass of a back door to get inside.
The attacker had a hammer and zip ties and Pelosi said, “I recognized that he was in grave danger.”
“He was standing at the door and I guess he was 3 or 4 feet away from me,” Pelosi testified. “It was a tremendous feeling of shock to see someone break into the house.”
When Pelosi told her attacker that the House Speaker was in Washington, D.C., DePape allegedly said she would have to tie him up and they would wait for his return.
Pelosi managed to grab her cellphone and call 911 from the bathroom before DePape snatched it from her, she testified.
The victim said she knew her best chance for survival was to go downstairs to meet police, and Pelosi testified that she told DePape, “Since all your stuff is downstairs, why don’t we go downstairs? You can tie me up and get some stuff.” sleep.”
When officers arrived, Pelosi said he grabbed DePape’s hand with the hammer, before the attacker pushed him away and began hitting him.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Vartain asked Pelosi what he remembered next and he said, “Waking up in a pool of blood.”
Pelosi said she still has headaches and dizziness from the brutal attack.
The victim joked that he’s glad his hair grew back and said “it must be Italian roots or something.”
Pelosi completed her testimony without any cross-examination from DePape’s defense attorneys, who do not dispute that their client was the attacker.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Wednesday and deliberations are expected to begin later that day.
Before Pelosi took the stand Monday, prosecutors showed jurors police body camera footage of the attack, in which the victim was struck three times.
The disturbing images, played in slow motion, appeared to paralyze jurors, although no one audibly reacted.
DePape’s defense previously tried to stop the government from showing the hammer attack in slow motion, but U.S. District Court Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley allowed it.
This federal trial, taking place in downtown San Francisco, will surely expose the corrosive impact of Conspiracy theories and misinformation. in modern politics.
By his own defense team’s admission, DePape became trapped in a rabbit hole of far-right conspiracies that led him to believe the nation is governed by a “ruling class engaged in corruption,” the defense attorney said. Jodi Linker told the jury last week.
DePape did not intend to kidnap Nancy Pelosi or harm Paul Pelosi, the defense maintains, but rather to use them to reach a person whom the prosecution calls “Target 1.” That person has been identified as a Bay Area scholar and ANDYoVersity of MeOutgoing Professor Gayle Rubinleading scholar in feminist theory and queer studies.
He the government has said DePape planned for months to attack Pelosi’s home and kidnap the former House speaker.
DePape allegedly had $9,000 in cash, flangesrope and duct tape in a backpack he took to Pelosi’s house, according to the government. The attack was captured by the officers’ body cameras..
The suspect has blogged about his belief that aliens, communists, religious minorities and global elites threaten the United States, authorities said.
He has repeated baseless accusations that Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in 2020 was not legitimate and embraced QAnona far-right movement that claims the United States is secretly ruled by a cabal of devil-worshipping pedophiles, officials have said.
DePape faces life in prison if convicted.
Chris Young reported from San Francisco and David K. Li from New York City.
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